This invention relates generally to modular spacecraft engineering and design and, more particularly, to techniques for interconnecting spacecraft electronic equipment modules that are externally mounted on a core spacecraft structure. Conventional spacecraft designs have placed electronic equipment on panels located inside box-like modules, with the panels typically forming the walls of the modules. The modules are mounted onto a spacecraft and interconnected with extremely complex wiring harnesses. This approach makes spacecraft design, integration and testing a costly and time-consuming effort, and renders even small design changes difficult or practically impossible. Clearly, a more modular approach is called for, but efforts to provide a "standard" spacecraft bus, on which equipment and avionics modules are mounted, have not resulted in elimination of the wiring harness as the preferred interconnection medium. The present invention addresses these difficulties and provides an elegant solution to the problem.